FOR KIDS and YOUTH The Future Protectors of the World s Wild Cats Jan-Feb 2013 Volume 3, Issue 1 Sections: Feline Conservation Federation News and Events.... 2 FCF Member Zoos and Sanctuaries to Visit... 4 Learning about the Cats... 5 Efforts to Save the Wild Cats...6 Feline Fun... 7 Wild Cat Fan Page.. 8 Happy New Year! Welcome to our first issue of the new year! Last year was another great year filled with fun events from the FCF. FCF members, guests, and their children all gathered in Cincinnati, gfa Ohio in June to attend the annual FCF Convention, where they got to visit the Cincinnati Zoo, eat on a riverboat, take educational courses, and hear from speakers about what they were doing to help cats. Children got to take a special class just for them. The 2013 Convention is planned for June in Nashville, Tennessee and will include a visit to the Nashville Zoo. More information will be posted in the next newsletter. Another event was the hosting of the FCF Basic Husbandry Course and Wildlife Educator s Course at the Conservator s Center in North Carolina, where everyone was invited to special tours. Lynn Culver even brought a baby Geoffroy s cat (below). See the FCF news and events for a review this event. You will find that the conservation and fun pages are a little different for this issue. We hope that you enjoy and participate in them! Feline Conservation Federation 141 Polk Road 664 Mena, AR 71953 www.felineconservation.org The Feline Conservation Federation is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the conservation of wild felines through preservation, education and research. Lynn Culver s baby Geoffroy s cat 1
FELINE CONSERVATION FEDERATION NEWS AND EVENTS Produced by the Youth Education Committee Review of FCF Husbandry and Educator s Courses On November 9, students attended the FCF Basic Husbandry Course at the Conservators Center in North Carolina. Below you can see the class learning about the serval. Chair: Debi Willoughby Lauren Bean Deeanna Croasmun Dawn English Amy Flory Robert Hohn Pam Sellner Dave Sol Mindy teaching the FCF Basic Husbandry Course On November 11, those interested attended the FCF Wildlife Educator s Course. The class was given a sample educational show with a snake and other animals. To Unsubscribe from the mailing list: Send an email to Youth@FelineCo nservation.org and put unsubscribe in the subject line. Michelle demonstrating an educational show during the FCF Wildlife Educator s Course Note to FCF members: If you have a family-friendly event you would like included here, please contact the committee. 2
CONSERVATOR S CENTER TOUR On November 10 between the two FCF courses, everyone was invited to visit the animals at the Conservator s Center. Below you can see Lynn Culver petting a serval at the facility. Lynn Culver visiting a serval at Conservator s Center 3
FCF MEMBER ZOOS AND SANCTUARIES TO VISIT Alligator Adventure 1891 Colony Drive Surfside Beach, SC 29575 Animal Junction 146 Frog Hollow Road Churchville, PA 18966 http://www.animaljunction.com/ Collins Zoo 2900 Hwy 49 Collins, MS 39428 www.collinsmszoo.com Cricket Hollow Zoo, Inc. 1512 210th Street Manchester, IA 52057-8951 www.crickethollowzoo.com Dade City's Wild Things 37245 Meridian Ave Dade City, FL 33525 www.dadecityswildthings.com Heaven's Corner Zoo & Animal Sanctuary 385 Quinn Rd West Alexandria, OH 45381 www.heavenscorner.net Hernando Primate Inc 14495 Chicanic Road Brooksville, FL 34614 www.hernandoprimate.com Hesperia Zoo 19038 Willow St Hesperia, CA 92345 http://www.thehesperiazoo.com/ Natural Bridge Zoological Park 5784 S Lee Hwy Natural Bridge, VA 24578 http://naturalbridgezoo.com/ Olympic Game Farm 1423 Ward Rd Sequim, WA 98382 www.olygamefarm.com Out of Africa Wildlife Park 4020 N Cherry Road Camp Verde, AZ 86322 http://www.outofafricapark.com/ Panther Ridge Conservation Center 14755 Palm Beach Point Boulevard Wellington, FL 33414 http://www.pantherridgesanctuary.org/ Phillips Park Zoo 1000 Ray Moses Dr Aurora, IL 60505 http://www.phillipsparkaurora.com/ Safari Zoological Park 1751A CR 1425 Caney, KS 67333 http://safaripark.org/ Sierra Safari Zoo 10200 N. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89506 http://sierrasafarizoo.org/ T.I.G.E.R.S. Preservation Station 6000 S.W. 118th Avenue Miami, FL 33183-1728 www.tigerfriends.com Tanganyika Wildlife Park 1037 South 183rd Street West Goddard, KS 67052 www.twpark.com Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge 17552 FM 14 Tyler, TX 75706 www.tigercreek.org Tiger World 4405 Cook Road Rockwell, NC 28138 www.tigerworld.us Wild Animal Safari 3246 E Seminole Springfield, MO 65804 http://www.goanimalparadise.com/ Wildwood Wildlife Park 10094 Hwy 70 West Minocqua, WI 54548 http://www.wildwoodwildlifepark.com Zooville USA 4702 Cooper Rd Plant City, FL 33565 www.zoovilleusa.com Note to FCF members: If you would like to be included here, please contact the committee. 4
LEARNING ABOUT THE WILD CATS Chinese Mountain Cat Felis bieti Weight: 12 pounds Body Length: 30 Tail Length: 12 Habitat: thick forests, scrublands, deserts Range: China Diet: rodents, pikas, birds Behavior: nocturnal Breeding: January March Gestation: unknown # of Babies: 2-4 Sexual Maturity: unknown Lifespan: unknown Status: IUCN Vulnerable * The Chinese mountain cat weighs about 12-15 pounds, its body is approximately 27-33 inches, and it has about a 12-16 inch tail * The term mountain is a little misleading the cat is found in many different types of terrain: in addition to mountains, the cat also lives in deserts, steppes, scrub, and forests. * Other names for the Chinese mountain cat are Chinese desert cat, Chinese steppe cat, pale cat, grass cat, Chinese Alpine steppe cat, and pale desert cat. * The species was first described in 1892, and as of 2007, was only known from six animals, all living in Chinese zoos, and from a few from museums. * It is closely related to the wildcat and jungle cat and is accepted by many experts to be a wildcat subspecies. * It is a very rare cat - there may be a population of fewer than 10,000 Chinese mountain cats with the ability to breed. * Distribution of the Chinese mountain cat is limited to areas of China, Mongolia, and the Tibetan Plateau * It has a sandy brown coat with brown spots, and pale belly. * The soles of its feet are covered with thick fur for habitat protection. * The Chinese desert cat hunts at night prey typically consists of small rodents and reptiles. * The cat is protected in China, but is still endangered due to habitat destruction, hunting, limited population and distribution, and poisoning of its main prey (animals called pikas, a mammal in the same family as rabbits and hares) - the poisoning can kill the cats and also diminishes the prey population. References: http://www.ofcats.com/2008/05/chinese-mountain-cat.html http://www.catsurvivaltrust.org/moderncats.aspx http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/8539/0 For more information about the Chinese mountain cat, visit the Youth Section of the FCF website. 5
EFFORTS TO SAVE THE WILD CATS Threats to Wild Cats In the last issue, you learned a little about 3 sources (IUCN, CITES, ESA) that give us the status of animals in the wild to tell us how endangered they are. But what makes an animal endangered in the first place? The answer is that wild cats face various threats that reduce their numbers, or population, in the wild. There are many threats that can cause a cat species to become endangered. Many of these are caused by people. They include hunting (both legal and illegal), killing for other reasons, habitat destruction, domestic cats, getting hit by cars or trucks, and poisoning of their prey. The populations of some cat species were nearly wiped out due to legal hunting both for food and sport before federal governments started passing laws to help control hunting. Today, wild cats are being killed by illegal hunting known as poaching where they are killed for their fur and other parts. Some are also killed for other purposes: cheetahs are sometimes killed by farmers for attacking livestock, and fishing cats are killed for getting too close to shrimp farms. Some wild cats are also killed while crossing roads that cut across their territory. Humans are also indirectly killing cats in the wild by poisoning their prey, destroying their habitat, and letting their domestic cats run free. The prey of many species of cat includes rodents, which are often viewed as pests by people. When people poison rodents to get rid of them, it kills the wild cats that eat them. Habitat destruction is another major threat to almost all cat species except for the sand cat which lives in the desert. People are tearing down forests and digging up grasslands to build homes and businesses and roads, leaving the cats with less and less land to live on. In addition to poisoning of prey and destroying their habitat, some cat species are becoming threatened because of domestic and feral cats. Domestic and feral cats can introduce diseases into a wild cat population. Some species, including the African and European wildcat, will actually breed with domestic and feral cats creating hybrids. These hybrids then breed with wild cat species, reducing the population of pure wild cats and causing them to slowly die out. Conservationists study cats in the wild to find out what threats affect each species. Once they find out what threats a cat species is facing, conservationists work to come up with ways to help prevent or reduce them to help save that cat. For the cheetahs that are being killed for attacking livestock, conservationists have started to breed and train dogs to protect the livestock and then give them to the farmers that live in cheetah territory. 6
FELINE FUN Threats to Wild Cats Conservationists are always trying to come up with new ideas to help resolve some of the threats that are facing cats in the wild. Pretend you are a conservationist. What ideas can you think of to address these threats listed below? Please send your ideas to the FCF Youth Education Committee by emailing us at Youth@FelineConservation.org. Hunting Poaching Killing by farmers or ranchers Habitat destruction Disease from domestic cats Breeding with domestic cats Getting hit by cars/trucks Poisoning of prey Loss of prey Other threats WILD CAT PROJECTS ON THE WEB Paper Crafts By Canon http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/2026/list_15_1.html Canon has several paper craft projects to make, including domestic and wild cats and even hybrids such as bengals. Origami By Tammy Yee http://www.tammyyee.com/printcat-tiger.html http://www.tammyyee.com/printcat-jaguar.html Tammy Yee has origami, or paper folding, projects that include a tiger and a jaguar. 7
Glossary Ambassador a person who speaks out or takes action for a cause Conserve/Conservation to save and protect an animal Conservationist a person that saves and protects animals Diet what an animal eats Distribution the range where a cat can naturally be found in the wild Gestation how long babies grow inside their mom before they are born Habitat the type of place (forest, ocean, desert) where an animal lives Hybrid an animal from two different species; can be two wild cat species (tiger and lion) or a wild cat and a domestic cat (savannah) Husbandry the breeding and raising of animals Nocturnal active during the evening or at night Poaching illegal killing of cats for their parts Population the total number of cats that live in a certain area; for the Chinese mountain cat, how many are living in the wild Range the countries or continents where an animal can found Scrub thick areas of small bushes and trees Steppes a grassy area that is mostly even and can have a wide temperature range Tropical an area that is often hot and wet Wildlife Educator someone who teaches others about wild animals 8